Art, Music, & Poetry

I stumbled across this blog which is setup to inspire children with art, music, and poetry.  So if you are running short on time, exhausted or don't know where to start on inspiring your children with the fine arts this is a great blog to follow.  Easy as one, two, three.  Thank you Patti for sharing your love of the arts!





http://classicalmusicnartcharlottemasonstyle.blogspot.com/

An Afternoon at the Japanese Garden

The last couple of weeks we have been praying for Japan as we learn more about their country and cultures.

Monday one of our assignments in MFW was to write a Haiku, a short poem written in a style that was developed in Japan.  The poem consist of 17 syllables and has only three lines.  The first line 5 syllables, the second 7, and the last 5.  What perfect timing because in our Language Lessons by Queen Homeschool we had just finished up learning what a Haiku was.

Since a Haiku is typically about nature I thought it would be nice to head over to the Japanese Garden at Herman Park.  So we packed a picnic, took some of our school and enjoyed a beautiful afternoon in the most inviting and relaxing atmosphere.

I printed pictures of a Koi, bamboo, and a Japanese Maple and asked the kids to keep their eyes open for these three things.  I shared with the kids that Koi were first color bred in Japan in the 1820's and that Koi are domesticated common carp.  The swaying of the bamboo in the Japanese Garden is suppose to represent the sound of the ocean.

While resting near the pond I asked the kids to imagine that the yukimi lantern across the pond was a lighthouse placed on a stone beach, with the pond as an ocean and the the rocks in the water symbolizing ships being guided by the lantern.  They say on the website that the waterfall makes one think of melting snow from a mountain stream, but I can't say I have ever heard that sound before, so we will have to take their word for it.

 Soft Flat Shelled Turtle

 Micah admiring the ducks

 The girls checking out the granite lanterns.

 This is our view of the lantern as we imagined it to be a lighthouse on a stone beach.

 The rocks as ships.  The kids said the turtles were the captains of the ships.

 The waterfalls were quite soothing and relaxing.

Hannah's Haiku

 Lauren's 1st Haiku

Ducks are colorful,

Ducks are cleaning their bodies,

The ducks are swimming.

 Lauren's 2nd Haiku

Turtles relaxing,

The water is cold looking,

The rock is bumpy.

 

Micah drew a picture of the flowers, boulders, and himself sweating. LOL

Homemade Playdough

This playdough is better than what you buy in the stores and the recipe makes a large quantity.

Ingredients:
3 cups flour
1-1/2 cup salt
6 tsp cream of tartar
3 cups cool water
3 tbsp oil
food coloring

Directions:
Mix the dry ingredients.  Next mix liquid ingredients.  Combine the two and cook over medium heat stirring constantly.  In about 5 minutes the dough should begin to pull away from the sides of the pan.  Once you can pinch the dough and it doesn't stick to your fingers you can remove from heat.  Finally, knead until consistency of playdough.

Another Day of Face Painting

Can you guess what their imagination and creativity turned them into today???

They are beautiful parrots!

Face Painting

This was about all Micah did, then he was ready for a shower. He is quick to take off his clothes when they get wet or dirty. He doesn't like his hands dirty, either.


Not sure what Lauren is. LOL


Hannah painted herself as a wolf.

Ornaments Made with Love

It has been a tradition every year to get a real tree, however, this year we are trying to cut back in some areas and that is one we chose. Glad we had my old artificial tree. To make it bling we made all our ornaments.

Angels made from felt, hot glue, and thread.

To make the Christmas trees we used paper plates, beads, colored egg shells, acrylic paint, needle, thread, and glue.

Hannah used the smaller beads as lights hanging on the tree.

Lauren chose to use the larger beads for balls.

Our finished Christmas trees.

Our snowman made out of egg cartons, felt, tooth picks, cotton balls, q-tips, paint, hot glue, and black pen.

Our balls were made out of styrofoam balls, red yarn, gold and red ribbon, bells, hot glue, and
pipe cleaners.

Some of our salt dough ornaments. We made stars, snowmen, gingerbread men, and hearts.

Thankful Tree

There are many blessings in our lives that we are thankful for, one is our friends Larry and Barb. They have enriched our lives with many loving and tender moments that we will forever cherish as a family.

It is funny how the friendship began. Barb and I were in a new CARE group that was starting through the church. As I tell this story keep in mind Barb is in her 60's and I am in my 30's. Barb always tells everyone that her 1st impressions of me was that I was hussy, because she saw a tattoo on my breast as I was breastfeeding one of my children. My first thoughts of her was oh this woman is going to be telling us all what to do.

As weeks went by Barb began to share something that she was going through that weighed heavy on her heart. It was through this hardship she was enduring that began the new friendship between two unexpected people. As our friendship grew, my children started to become more apart of her life. I think my children have filled a void in her life, as she has filled a void in mine and my children's lives.

As a gift to Larry and Barb the kids made a Thankful Tree. This tree would be filled with moments or things that they are thankful for that Barb and Larry do. Their thankful leaves said:

1)Gum - My kids almost always get gum when Barb comes to the house and this is a treat they love.

2) Hugs and Kisses - You can never get too many of these

3) Going to the movies

4) Spending the night with big sister at Barb's

5) Riding in the car from the house to the end of the street and back - I know this seems kind of silly, but the kids love when they get to ride in the car with her or her and Larry. They turn the music up loud, sing together, and cruise for about 2 mins.

6) Going for ice cream

7) Eating with Larry and Barb here at the house and at the Mexican restaurant or as Micah puts it at Mexico.

Thank you Larry and Barb for sharing your lives with us! We love you both!

Painting Fall Trees

This idea is from http://www.theartistwoman.blogspot.com/ . You paint the background with acrylic or tempera paint (you can water down the paint or not). We chose not to water down our paint, instead we watered our brush a little and swirled it over our paper. Let it dry, then using a straw blow your black paint (really watered down) to make your tree and branches.

Lauren-5, Hannah-8, Micah-3

I loved their work so much we hung them in the entry way.

This was a really fun project!

Autumn Tree Craft

Thanks to http://www.thatartistwoman.blogspot.com/ for the idea. She gave two methods to achieve this tree. We chose to do the paper bag method.

Kid's Drawings Today

So as some may know we have been in lock down mode due to the family having the swine flu. Well today while most of us were sleeping Hannah was up drawing. Lauren had to draw something when she woke up. They are beautiful to mommy.

Lauren's (5)
One of Hannah's Indians

Picture of Hannah herself. Wish I could get a better picture of it, I didn't do it justice. This was my favorite. It is so sweet, just like my little girl.

Her other Indian.

Pumpkin Observations/Carving

Micah chose to decorate his pumpkin with stickers.

So these are the pumpkins and squashes the kids picked from the pumpkin patch.

We began by reading the The Pumpkin Book by Gail Gibbons. Then we spent some time observing our pumpkins. I explained to the girls that pumpkins were a fruit not a vegetable. If you are speaking in a botanical, scientific context, then the pumpkin and squash are fruits, because they have seeds. We also completed a pumpkin notebook page from http://www.homeschoolshare.com/docs54478/Pumpkin%20Runner%20notebook.pdf. Afterwards, we asked ourselves if they would float or sink? We also estimated how many seeds were in the yellow squash.

We read The Pumpkin Book by Gail Gibbons.


Lauren writing her observations of her pumpkin.

Hannah measuring the height of her stem, she didn't have much of one. Her pumpkin stem measured 1/2". Lauren's stem was 5-1/2".

Well the squash floated. Both girls thought this would happen.

So how many seeds were in this? One child guessed 50 the other child guessed 100. AND drum roll please...... there were 92 seeds.

One girl thought they would float, the other that they would sink. All but the boy floated. Micah just had to get in with the pumpkins. So why did they float if they were so heavy? I asked if they could guess. Hannah said, "because it was hollow." I explained that yes because it was hollow and the inside was filled with air it floated.

Hannah cleaning and describing the inside of her pumpkin.


Hannah's notebooking

Lauren's notebooking

We did the Pumpkin Prayer as we carved our pumpkins.

Dear Jesus,

As I carve my pumpkin, help me pray this prayer:

Open my mind so I can learn about you,

(cut the top off the pumpkin)

Psalm 100:3

Take all my sin and forgive the wrong that I do.

(clean out the inside)

1 John 1:9

Open my eyes so Your love I will see;

(cut eyes shaped like hearts)

Psalm 119:18

I'm sorry for times I've turned up my nose at what you've given to me.

(cut a nose in the shape of the cross)

Psalm 51:10

Open my ears so Your word I will hear;

(cut ears shaped like the Bible)

Isaiah 55:3

Open my mouth to tell others You're near.

(cut the mouth in the shape of a fish)

Psalm 118:17

Let Your light shine in all I say and do!

Amen.

(place a candle inside and light it)

Matthew 5:16